Especially ironic, considering that the 95-year-old Handlin's best-known book, published more than a half century ago, "altered public perceptions about the role of immigration in the arc of American history," according to the New York Times.

The sale of Massey Energy Co. means the end of a 95-year-old company that has been one of the most influential U.S. coal producers, as well as a central and sometimes controversial part of life in coal-rich West Virginia.